Magnets
by Cool Cat Productions
Summary: "We're nothing alike! We're complete opposites!" "Let me introduce you to a friend of mine called Mr. Magnet..." Brock uses the power of physics to convince Dawn that she and Paul stand a chance of being together...and he just might be right...


**This is just a random idea that popped into my head. I think it was originally with May/Drew, but then realised it would work better with Dawn and Paul. Sorry if it's OOC, I kind of fail. **

**I don't own Pokémon…poor me.**

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><p>"That jerk…" Dawn grumbled darkly to herself, glaring at the retreating back of a boy with light purple hair. "Why can't he remember my name? I mean it's only four letters long!"<p>

"Calm down, Dawn," Ash said comfortingly, putting his hand on her shoulder in attempt to calm her down. "He's not worth it."

"You're right, Ash! If he decides not to be decent enough to remember my name, then he's not worth my time!" Dawn said in a firm tone, a determined look on her face. "I'll just…just not remember his! I'll call him something else…like…like Grumpy!"

Ash snorted in laughter. Dawn smirked. Suddenly, a low roar sounded from Ash's stomach. He grinned sheepishly and laughed. "Heh, guess it's time to go eat…"

"Yeah! Come on, let's go find Brock!"

Remembering that their friend was out getting supplies, and looking for a date at the same time, they ran off through the town, heading for the market.

**TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT**

When they finally found the man, he was sitting on the floor and rubbing his ear with a pained whimper. Croagunk was smirking.

"Ow…what was that for, Croagunk? She was so in to me!" he moaned.

"Come on, Brock! We want to go eat!" Ash yelped, shaking Brock's shoulder.

Brock sighed and got to his feet. "Alright, alright. Hey, why don't we go to a restaurant for lunch? Apparently this town is famous for its pasta dishes."

"Yum! I could do with a bowl of pasta!" Ash said. His stomach rumbled again, and he added, "A _big_ bowl…"

Dawn laughed. "There was a nice-looking restaurant we ran past, just outside the market! We could go there!"

"Yeah!" Ash agreed as the three started making their way toward the restaurant Dawn had suggested.

**TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT**

Half an hour later, Ash was patting his stomach appreciatively. "That was some good pasta."

"I'll say," Dawn said, smiling as she dropped her fork in her empty bowl.

"Yeah…" Brock agreed, though was somewhat distracted by the pretty waitress taking an order for a table nearby.

Dawn and Ash exchanged puzzled looks and followed his gaze to the girl, who by now was walking off to the back room, to reveal a familiar someone at the table she'd been serving.

"It's Paul again," Ash noted, a tad obviously. Indeed, the purple-haired boy was there, his arms folded and his head – slightly bowed – looking firmly away from the other person at the table. Opposite him was a woman with blonde hair that fell in soft ringlets and large, green eyes. She was smiling at him, leaning on her interlaced hands.

Dawn's eyes narrowed. "What's Pa- Grumpy doing here…and who's she?" she screeched, a bit loudly. Everyone else in the restaurant, including Paul, turned to look at her. Dawn ducked her head and hid behind her menu, dragging Ash and Brock down with her. She didn't want Paul to know she had been the one to scream that.

When everyone had looked away again, Dawn lifted her head.

Ash frowned and looked up too, along with Brock. "What was that about?" he asked.

Brock shrugged. Dawn flushed.

"Um…"

"Dawn's got a boyfriend! Dawn's got a boyfriend!" Ash sang childishly.

"I do not! Shut up!" Dawn hissed, slapping her hand over his mouth. She snuck a glance at Paul's table, but he hadn't seemed to have noticed. He seemed more interested in what the blonde woman he was with was saying.

"Mmf! Mfmymnm!" Ash mumbled against her hand. When she didn't let go, he licked it. She squealed and quickly drew it back, wiping her hand on the table cloth.

"Ew!" She then glared at Brock who looked like he was about to burst into song too. "Don't you start."

"Aw, why not?" Brock frowned. "Ash has a point!"

"Huh? Wh-what do you mean?"

"You and Paul would be sort of…well…cute together…" Brock smirked before pouting. "Why can't I get a girlfriend?"

Dawn ignored his cry of despair. "What do you mean we'd be cute together? I don't like him! I hate him! He's cold and cruel and mean! Besides, even if I did like him – which I don't – we would in no way be able to be together! We're nothing alike! We're complete opposites! It wouldn't work!"

"Let me introduce you to a friend of mine called Mr. Magnet…" Brock said mysteriously. Ash sniggered.

"He has a weird name…"

Brock ignored him. Instead, he pulled out two small blocks of metal. Dawn arched an eyebrow.

"Um…Why do you carry those things around with you?"

"For reasons." Brock waved it off. "Anyway. North and South are completely different, right?"

"Yeah…" Dawn nodded. "They're opposites."

"A bit like you and Paul, correct?"

"I guess…"

"So, let's say that this blue side is you." He pointed to the blue end on one magnet. "And this red side is Paul." He indicated the red side on the second magnet. "They're opposites but when I put them near each other…" He placed both magnets on the table with 'Paul' and 'Dawn' face each other. When he let go, they raced toward each other, clanging together in the middle.

Dawn's eyes widened. "Wow…"

"Exactly." Brock smirked. "You know what they say; opposites attract."

"Cool…" Dawn was still in awe, staring at the magnets with amazement. Suddenly she shook her head. "One problem though. I don't even like Paul, so that is not going to happen."

"Then why did you get so annoyed when you saw him with that other girl?"

Dawn froze. "Um…It was just…unexpected, you know? To see him actually _with_ someone…"

Brock sighed in defeat. "Fine, suit yourself…"

Ash frowned. "I'm confused…how did the metal blocks move?"

"Well, it's all to do with magnetic fields," Brock began. Dawn could tell from Ash's blank expression that it would take some time and so, after dumping some money on the table to pay for her meal, she got to her feet.

"I'm going for a walk. I'll meet you at the Pokémon Centre, 'kay?"

When they didn't answer, too absorbed in the thrilling physics lesson, Dawn sighed and left the restaurant.

**TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT**

A few minutes of walking later, she found herself on the outskirts of the forest. She sighed and sat down on a conveniently placed rock. She knew Brock had meant well, but there was just no way that Paul would ever like her.

_Wait…what? _

She frowned and shook her head. _Not like __**me?**__ No, I don't like __**him.**__ I couldn't care less what he thinks about __**me**__. _Dawn sighed. Who was she kidding? She was surprised that Ash and Brock had bought her story about not liking him so easily. She wasn't even sure _why_ she liked him.

"He's quite handsome, I guess…" she mumbled. "Ugh, that's so shallow. There's nothing else about him too like! He's mean, heartless, puzzling…challenging…" She paused. Maybe that was it…she was attracted how much of a puzzle he was, attracted to the challenge he posed, a challenge she couldn't back down from.

No…that wasn't the full reason. But that made no difference. It didn't matter what she thought of him. He didn't like her, not one bit, and that wasn't about to change. He couldn't even remember her name, for pity's sake.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the young man in front of her straight away. When she snapped out of it she was quite surprised to find a pair of dark eyes less than a foot from her own blue eyes. "Huh?"

"What's wrong with you?" he asked gruffly. It was then that Dawn realised - to her horror - that tears had been slowly rolling down her cheeks.

"Nothing!" she squeaked quickly, almost too quickly, leaning away from him. He frowned.

"That's a lie, and you know it."

Dawn sighed and shook her head. "It doesn't matter…it's not like you would care, anyway."

"Is that so?"

"Um…yes?"

Dawn's head was bowed, her eyes trained on the ground. When he didn't reply, she assumed he had left, but was proved wrong when something warm touched her side. She looked up to find Paul sitting next to her on the rock, a little closer than she would have expected due to lack of room. She looked at his face and realised he wasn't going to leave until she gave him an answer.

"Um…well…it's just…kind of about something I was talking to Brock about…" she said, looking away.

"About me, then?"

Dawn froze, a fierce chill piercing her gut. He knew? "Wha-? N-no…"

"Don't play dumb. In the restaurant. You were talking with Brock and the Pathetic Kid about me."

"Well, they were only teasing!" Dawn replied. "They were just fooling around, none of it was true!"

"None of it?" She could hear the smirk in his voice.

"No! None of it!" she confirmed.

"So, that means when you said you didn't like me…you meant you did?"

"What!" Dawn screeched in horror. "No! I didn't mean that! I-what they said-I don't…I mean, well, I do…but not like that! I mean, you're okay, sometimes, when you're not being a jerk and calling me names an-"

She was cut off quite abruptly by a mouth being pressed against hers. Her heart and mind went into overdrive as she went bright red and froze against his lips. The kiss lasted only a couple of seconds. When Paul pulled away, he folded his arms casually as if nothing had happened.

"Wh-what was that for?" she managed to stutter.

"To shut you up."

"Oh." Dawn fell silent then frowned. "Gee, thanks."

Paul sighed. "Troublesome."

"Grumpy."

"…Grumpy?"

"Yeah…you never remember my name, so why should I remember yours?"

"…Seriously? Is Grumpy the best you could come up with?"

"Well…what would you prefer? Meanie? Scowly? Prunie?" Dawn reeled off, her voice laced with a slight growl.

"Something not ending in 'ie'."

"Prune-head then."

"Whatever."

Dawn sighed. "So…who was the girl you were with?"

"Jade."

"Oh…Who's Jade?"

"Some woman."

"Jeez, how helpful…"

"What's it to you?" Paul asked, frowning deeply.

"Um…" Dawn trailed off. "I'm just…curious?"

He sighed. "Well, if you must know, she was from the press."

"Oh…" Dawn couldn't keep the relief from her voice. He noticed and arched an eyebrow.

"You sound relieved."

"Um. Well…" Dawn stumbled over her words as she tried to think up an excuse. "I just, um, assume that she, um-"

"You thought that she was my girlfriend, didn't you?"

"Uhh…no…"

"You are a very bad liar," Paul said bluntly. Dawn looked up again, flushing. "You were jealous because you thought she was my girlfriend."

"Why would I be jealous? I don't even like you!" Dawn yelled.

"Again, you are a very bad liar."

Dawn scowled. "Oh…fine…okay, I'll admit! I do…kind of…sort of…like you…a bit…but what does it matter? You would never like me. Not in a million years! All you think I am is some…some annoying, weak, troublesome girl whose name you can't even be bothered to remember!" She was pretty much shrieking the last part of her speech, glaring darkly at him.

Paul, however, seemed quite unfazed. "I never said that," he said coolly.

"Besides," Dawn carried on regardless, "we're too different! We're complete opposites! It wouldn't work. You could never love someone like me." She dropped her eyes sadly, tears threatening to spill over again.

He touched her arm, but she flinched and snatched it away from him. "I'll go now," she mumbled, getting up. However, she hadn't walked more than two steps when she found herself being tugged backwards.

Paul closed his arms around her waist from behind, kissed her cheek and whispered, "You might want to trust Brock's physics more often," before letting go of her and walking off.

Dawn stood like a stone statue for a full minute, her face a luminous pink. She swallowed and started walking toward the Pokémon Centre.

She had to thank Brock for his physics lesson.

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><p><strong>And there you have it! I know, it was unbearably corny and cheesy at the end…sorry about that and yeah, Paul probably was kind of OOC. I apologise. And yeah, it's probably not the best thing you've ever read. It seemed kind of clunky to me, but I wasn't really sure how to fix it.<strong>

**Review please! Constructive Criticism is more than welcome! Flames…not so much.**


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